Effect of TiO2 nanoparticles on the hydrogen sorption characteristics of magnesium hydride

Abstract

The present paper explores the enhancement in hydrogen sorption behavior of MgH2 with TiO2 nanoparticles. The catalytic effect of TiO2 nanoparticles with different sizes (7, 25, 50, 100 and 250 nm) were used for improving the sorption characteristics of MgH2. The MgH2 catalyzed with 50 nm of TiO2 exhibited the optimum catalytic effect for hydrogen sorption behavior. The desorption temperature of MgH2 catalyzed through 50 nm TiO2 was found to be 310 )C. This is 80 )C lower as compared to MgH2 having a desorption temperature of 390 )C. It was noticed that the dehydrogenated MgH2 catalyzed with 50 nm TiO2 reabsorbed 5.1 wt% of H2 within 6 minutes at temperature and pressure of 250 )C and 50 atm, respectively. The 50 nm TiO2 catalyst lowered the absorption activation energy of MgH2 from ̃92 to ̃52.7 kJ mol-1. Copyright © 2013 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.